My DW and I decided to leave our FA after about two years, and this week I have been doing some research into moving our portfolios to either Fidelity or Vanguard. I'm learning that our FA is using 'institutional class shares' of funds for our investments, and if we move to Vanguard, most of the funds will transition 'in-kind', however, once transferred, Vanguard wants to charge us $25 to sell each of those funds. Fidelity on the other hand wants me to liquidate 23 of the 64 positions before moving, and the rest can transfer 'in-kind' and will charge us nothing for selling the rest of them once transferred.
Originally, I was all set to move to everything in-kind to Vanguard, but after learning this information, Fidelity looks like a better choice. Fidelity is also giving us $1200 for moving the accounts to them.
The accounts are comprised of - 2 Roths/2 IRAs/1 aftertax. The majority of the current funds have expenses <1% and average probably .7%. With the current FA, there is no-charge to sell
any of our funds.
Couple questions - I was going to transfer everything in-kind and then after the 1st of the year start transitioning to Fidelity or Vanguard funds. Should I just liquidate everything to cash now before moving (other than the after tax account) to Vanguard of Fidelity ?
Guess, my concern is any dividends or distributions that I may miss
out on by liquidating now versus waiting until next year. Should this be a concern ?
I tried to negotiate with Vanguard to drop their fees, which they won't do. Vanguard is saying their fund expense fees are lower than Fidelity, and I'll recoup the fees after a year. However, since Fidelity has dropped their expenses now, comparable Fidelity funds are actually slightly cheaper.
Why does Vanguard want to stiff me on these fees ?
Originally, I was all set to move to everything in-kind to Vanguard, but after learning this information, Fidelity looks like a better choice. Fidelity is also giving us $1200 for moving the accounts to them.
The accounts are comprised of - 2 Roths/2 IRAs/1 aftertax. The majority of the current funds have expenses <1% and average probably .7%. With the current FA, there is no-charge to sell
any of our funds.
Couple questions - I was going to transfer everything in-kind and then after the 1st of the year start transitioning to Fidelity or Vanguard funds. Should I just liquidate everything to cash now before moving (other than the after tax account) to Vanguard of Fidelity ?
Guess, my concern is any dividends or distributions that I may miss
out on by liquidating now versus waiting until next year. Should this be a concern ?
I tried to negotiate with Vanguard to drop their fees, which they won't do. Vanguard is saying their fund expense fees are lower than Fidelity, and I'll recoup the fees after a year. However, since Fidelity has dropped their expenses now, comparable Fidelity funds are actually slightly cheaper.
Why does Vanguard want to stiff me on these fees ?